Images of Gilgamesh
Heroic Pattern

1. Chronology

2700-2500     Historical Gilgamesh, King of Uruk during 2nd Early Dynastic Period in Sumer; name recorded in Sumerian King List.
2500-2400     Oral tradition of Gilgamesh tales culminates in at least seven known Sumerian texts (including "Gilgamesh & the Land of the Living"; "Gilgamesh, Enkidu & the Netherworld"; "The Death of Gilgamesh"; "Gilgamesh & the Bull of Heaven"; "The Deluge") preserved in Old Babylonian copies dating from the early 2nd Millennium.
2000-1600     Development of Akkadian Gilgamesh Epic during Old Babylonian Period, based freely on Sumerian sources and earlier Akkadian Atrahasis Epic.
1600-1000     Internationalization of epic during Middle Babylonian Period:  translations proliferate in Akkadian, Hittite and Hurrian. Toward end of period, Gilgamesh achieves its standard form throughout Mesopotamia. During this late phase, the addition of a prologue and the inclusion of the flood story and a thematically unrelated tale (Tablet XII) of Enkidu's journey to the Netherworld.
 

2. Synopsis (excluding Tablet XII)

(I) Arrogant and unchallenged in his semi-divine status, Gilgamesh of Uruk rules his subjects abusively. The gods in response create a match for him in the figure of the wildman Enkidu, who wreaks havoc on the countryside by tearing up hunters' traps and releasing snared animals. Lured into intercourse with a temple prostitute sent to tame him, Enkidu loses his natural powers and becomes "civilized."

(II) He and Gilgamesh fight to a stalemate, after which they adopt each other as brothers.

(III) Together they plan an expedition to the Cedar Forest, in search of glory.

(IV) Journey to the Cedar Forest.  Admonitory dreams.

(V) They defeat the monster Huwawa, guardian of the forest, then cut down the cedars and use them to build the great temple door in Nippur.

(VI) Gilgamesh rejects the erotic advances of Inanna, goddess of sexuality.  Enraged, she sends the Bull of Heaven against them, but they destroy it too.  Enkidu insults Inanna.

(VII) As punishment, the gods make Enkidu die.  On his deathbed, Enkidu curses the temple prostitute who seduced him and conveys to Gilgamesh a vision of the miserable existence awaiting all mortals in the Land of Ereshkigal, Queen of the Dead.

(VIII) Lamentation over Enkidu.

(IX) Distraught, Gilgamesh wanders the earth in search of Dilmun, a paradise in which Utnapishtim and his wife, once mortal, now live eternally.  He wrestles lions, encounters the Scorpion-Beings, travels through the darkness of Mount Mashu, and finally reaches the tavern of Siduri, on the shore of the Persian Gulf (?).

(X) She directs him to the ferryman Urshanabi, who conveys him across the Waters of Death to Utnapishtim.

(XI) Utnapishtim tells him the story of the Flood, and how he received eternal life. Gilgamesh fails a test to determine whether he himself is eligible for immortality, and is banished from Dilmun. As a consolation, he is given a plant that insures rejuvenation.  He decides to take it back to Uruk and feed it to the old men of the city, but on his way home it is stolen by a snake. Gilgamesh returns empty-handed, and rules Uruk wisely and justly until his inevitable death. The epic closes with a funeral dirge.